Given the sheer amount of things that can go wrong when making any film—cast chemistry issues, budgetary restraints, story changes that dilute a writer’s original vision—it’s almost a miracle that any movie turns out as it should. But at the very least, it’s reasonable to hope for consistency in tone. If you create a dramatic scene, the last thing you want is for the audience to laugh. It does happen, though—and in a bizarre twist of fate, unintentional humor can bring movie fans together, even if it’s not what the director wanted.
On that note, let’s look at a few classics of accidental cinematic hilarity. And there’s no better source for than the Internet, where film buffs recently shared some of their favorites. We could easily include 20 or 30 picks here, but for the sake of space, let’s focus on three of the most popular choices. (This should go without saying, but keep in mind that you may encounter some spoilers in the paragraphs below.)
Meet Joe Black
In a thread from the /Fauxmoi subreddit, there was a clear top pick: the scene from Martin Brest’s 1998 fantasy-drama Meet Joe Black where Brad Pitt’s character is fatally struck by multiple cars. Of course, the subject matter here is horrifying—not even remotely amusing. But the comedy, according to the Redditors, comes from the cartoonish visual presentation, as a dummy-Pitt thrashes around from one vehicle to another like a ping-pong ball. “It’s the way he looks like he’s pooping suitcases that does it for me,” one user wrote. Another marveled: “I cried laughing when I saw the Meet Joe Black car accident, and I kept rewinding it to cry laugh some more. And it still gets me when I watch it. The most unintentionally hilarious scene in movie history.”
This brief moment has become so notorious, it inspired a miniature oral history from Vulture. The film’s stunt coordinator, Buddy Joe Hooker, recalled in 2019 how they used an “articulated dummy that has all the joints [and] fingers,” with everything working “like a real human being.” He noted that the filming process “freaked [people] out,” with the extras unsure of what was happening. “[When he first got hit], people were screaming. They were like, ‘You killed Brad Pitt!’” he said. “And I kind of thought it was hilarious at the time, but the more I thought about it, I was going, Wow, they should have maybe told this to people.”
The Dark Knight Rises
Another popular selection: Christopher Nolan’s 2012 Batman sequel The Dark Knight Rises. One Redditor described the melodramatic death scene of Marion Cotillard’s character, Miranda Tate / Talia al Ghul, as “hilariously bad.” (The intense line reading, coupled with the eye-closing and head bob, do feel a little awkward.) Someone else theorized that there “absolutely” should have been a “better take” to choose from. According to Variety, Cotillard admitted to French publication Les rencontres du Papotin that she “didn’t nail that scene,” adding, “I didn’t find the right position. I didn’t find the right way…I was stressed. Sometimes it happens that you screw something up. So that, I screwed up.”
The Room
This one is fascinating. Tommy Wiseau’s so-bad-its-perfect 2003 cult classic, The Room, is filled with laugh-until-you-vomit scenes. But were they intended to be funny? It sure doesn’t feel like it, but the filmmaker has later referred to his project as a “black comedy.” Regardless, Redditors made their collective stance clear, as one user selected the infamous “hi, doggie” scene, where Wiseau’s character, Johnny, enters a flower shop and has a stilted, rapid-fire exchange with an employee, making sure to pet the shop dog on his way out.
You could spend an afternoon researching this topic, and the hilarity just keeps coming—everything from bizarre Harry Potter moments to Nicolas Cage’s reliably over-the-top reaction to some bees in The Wicker Man to Tobey Maguire’s intense scream in Spider-Man 2. Happy unexpected laughs.
